NHL players first went to the Olympics for the 1998 Nagano Games. Now they will be available to the 12 national teams that will comprise the hockey tournament from Feb. 12-23, 2014.

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NHL stars like Bobby Ryan are free to compete in Olympic action in Sochi in 2014.

After weeks of tough negotiations, the NHL and its players reached a deal with the International Ice Hockey Federation on Friday to put the season on hold again so the game's biggest stars can compete in next year's Olympics in Sochi.

Putting a stop to another season one year after the damaging lockout created a shortened, 48-game campaign was hardly an optimal plan for the NHL. But an agreement was made to allow the top players to take part in the Olympics for the fifth straight time.

"Our outstanding athletes take tremendous pride in representing their homelands on the global stage," NHLCommissioner Gary Bettman said in a joint announcement with the players' association. "The decision to participate in the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi was in many ways a difficult one, but one that we know will be well received by our players and, most importantly, by the vast majority of our fans and sports fans everywhere."

NHL players first went to the Olympics for the 1998 Nagano Games. Now they will be available to the 12 national teams that will comprise the hockey tournament from Feb. 12-23, 2014. More than 120 NHL players are expected to compete for their respective nations in Sochi while the league takes a break for 2½ weeks from Feb. 9-26.

Friday's announcement paved the way for the NHL to reveal the schedule for the upcoming regular season. That had been held up until a resolution was made on Olympic participation. The league said Friday the 2013-14 regular season will begin Oct. 1.

"The players are very pleased that an agreement has been reached that will allow the world's best hockey players to compete at the Winter Games in February," said Don Fehr, the players' association executive director. "Having the opportunity to wear their nation's sweater in Sochi is something the players look forward to."

Bettman, Fehr and IIHF President Rene Fasel met for more than five hours July 1 — the day after the NHLdraft — at league headquarters in New York and made progress toward a deal that took nearly three more weeks to hammer out.

"I am very happy with the result of the constructive discussions which will ensure that once again we will see the world's top ice hockey players competing at the Olympic Games," IOC President Jacques Rogge said in a statement. "I would like to thank all parties involved for making this happen ahead of Sochi 2014."

The biggest challenge the NHL faces every time the Olympics come is the need to stop the hockey season for several weeks so its players can go. That became a bigger factor this time because of last season's lockout that delayed the start of the campaign until late January.

"Although there were many details to discuss with our partners NHL and NHLPA, there was never any doubt in my mind that we would not continue the tradition from Nagano, Salt Lake City, Turin and Vancouver," Fasel said in a separate statement. "The modern Olympic era is about sportive competition on the highest possible level. This is what fans around the world expect from a 100-meter race or downhill skiing and this is also what they are entitled to expect from our sport.

"It is the obligation of the IIHF toward our fans that the biggest sports show on Earth has the best players and toward our member associations that they are able to select the best players that their educational systems have developed. I would like to thank NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr for their cooperation."

As part of the deal, seven NHL referees and six NHL linesmen will join the IIHF on-ice officials' crews that will work the men's tournament. The Olympic hockey tournament will be played according to the IIHF rulebook on the bigger international-sized rinks.